Star Wars Comic Crossover to Be Gothic Horror Story
The Official Star Wars website and The Star Wars Show announced Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel, a five-issue crossover that will find in its first issue Luke Skywalker teaming up with Doctor Aphra. The writers of the crossover are Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron, while the artist for the first issue is Marco Checchetto.
The official site published the interview with Gillen and Aaron in which they describe the upcoming comic. According to Aaron, the comic spins out of Gillen’s Doctor Aphra series and they are playing with different settings and tropes as well as mixing their cast of characters in a different way than in Vader Down. The Screaming Citadel, describing an infamous castle located on the edge of space, is “very much a Star Wars gothic-horror story”.
StarWars.com: To take a step back, the idea of pairing Aphra and Luke together is really interesting because they’re so opposite. It’s hard to image either of them wanting anything to do with the other. Where did that idea come from, and what is it like for you guys getting to write them together?
Jason Aaron: Well, story-wise, it comes from them needing something from the other. Aphra is the one who shows up and gets things rolling. She needs Luke to get what she wants, and Luke has been on a quest since the book began to become a Jedi — to become what he needs to be to win the war, to face Darth Vader. Even the end of the current arc in Star Wars — the arc that’s focusing, for the most part, on Yoda — leaves him in another place where he’s, again, desperate to become a Jedi to help his friends. That’s the path he’s on, and Aphra shows up and dangles something in front him that he thinks is gonna help him get there. So they go off together.
But yeah, it’s a very different dynamic between the two of them than what we see in Star Wars, even more so, I think, than Luke and Han. Like I said, that’s been one of the most fun parts so far, is to put those two characters together and drop them into this situation. Initially on their own, and then the rest of the cast will all come into play as we go forward.
Kieron Gillen: It’s like, writing the entirety of the first issue is hilarious. [Laughs] They have such different life experiences. You know, she’s a little older than he is, he’s still naive and she’s a cynical monster. And they go back and forth and they tease each other and, occasionally, they push each other’s buttons. But there’s an underlying similarity. They’ve both lost their families. They’ve both had completely different responses to the horror of the Star Wars universe, the big tragedy, and the push and pull of that is very much the heart of the book. But really, it’s just funny. It’s just fundamentally funny to see them go at each other. Writing that entire issue was a joy, in terms of how they interacted and went back and forth and how they generally got on each other’s nerves. Aphra, to begin with, gets the best of Luke, and it kind of switches up as you go further into it.
Jason Aaron: Kieron, is this the most you’ve written Luke?
Kieron Gillen: It must be. I wrote him a little bit in Vader Down, but it’s only a handful of pages. All I really remember writing in Vader Down is the pages where he just gets ambushed by Triple Zero. He’s making his way through that Jedi Temple. So to do an entire issue with him is a completely different kind of beast, especially the first issue. The rest of the cast is in it, but it’s really about Luke and Aphra. I felt it was quite important for the book, in that way. It establishes what their relationship is.
While the story starts with Luke and Aphra, Han, Leia and Sana Starros will join the story and we will see different pairings of characters throughout the crossover.
StarWars.com: Jason, you created Sana, and Kieron, you created Aphra. Obviously, you guys are shepherding these new characters that you brought to Star Wars. Is it important to you to keep evolving them even when you have to balance the responsibility of a crossover?
Kieron Gillen: I think definitely. This is such an enormous story for Aphra and Sana. We alluded to their history a little before, and now it’s the chance to say, “Okay, we’re going to put them together and make them really interact in a more extended way.” They’re very much part of the emotional arc of the whole thing and how the casts end up coming together is very much linked to Sana and Aphra.
Jason Aaron: Absolutely. I think this’ll be a very big arc for both of those characters, separately and together.
Go to the Star Wars site to read the entire interview with Gillen and Aaron in which they talk about the visuals, writing the iconic characters and how the crossover will impact their individual comics.
The crossover will hit the comic book shops, virtual and actual, in May.
Staff member, comic and book reviewer. Cheers for the Light Side, but would drink with Grand Admirals.
My interest is piqued. I read it all anyways, but this is different. I wonder how Aphra and the Star Wars series are going to finish up, and how close to Empire we’re going to get before they do. Any stabs at how far out we are at this point in the 3(?) years between ANH & ESB?
Whatever it is that there are an insane number of stories to tell in this short 3 years time period.
Not really
calling it now… Aphra is Rey’s mum. 😉
With all the crazy stuff she gets herself into, she very well could be Rey’s kid/final experiment – lol
Obviously!
No, Rey’s grandma. Aphra’s so going to rape Luke! That’s what this crossover is all about! Definitely!:)
the lulz
Very exciting. Aphra is getting more and more visibility, lately. Looking forward to seeing how this story unfolds with her team-up with Luke. ^_^
Too true, now if she could just some appearance into Rebels or something live action, that would be perfect 🙂
If we’re lucky, should SWR continue a few seasons more; for live action, perhaps solo anthology film starring her would do the trick, though i’m not getting my hopes up. ^_^
Doesn’t Disney have some kind of four season limit for every show airing on their channels?
Disney CHANNEL does, but Disney XD is different I think, especially since Rebels is animated AND from Lucasfilm.
Ah, just wondering because Ultimate Spider-Man ended with four seasons on Disney XD while a brand new Spider-Man cartoon is airing this summer.
rebels is already on pre-production for season 5 i believe.
I didn’t hear anything about that, but Freddy Prinze Jr. did say that they’re well into production on Season 4.
i thought i heard season 4 was already done, but either way they plan on going past 4 seasons.
Oh, yes. FPJ said they’ll probably go for 6 or 7 seasons if everything goes as planned.
From what I understand, each season is a “year”, so we should still have two more years before A New Hope takes place.
I used to read every single issue of the comic but it’s getting so far out there beyond what I see Star Wars as that it’s completey lost on me and my interest.
To be fair, It was easy to keep up before the Disney canon started. They have so many titles going on right now. Dark Horse did too but a lot of them were miniseries or one-shots and not monthly ones. Inflation in terms of cover pricing wasn’t as ridiculous as it is now back then either.
This is more of a criticism of modern comics in general, but with prices rising, we don’t seem to be getting all that much story. Do people here find themselves whipping through these issues in three minutes or less? I did a read-through of issues 94-300 of the Uncanny X-Men a few years ago and I was always impressed with the amount of story those issues entailed. I could care less about two-page actions spreads every four pages. I want dialogue and story.
I disagree. I found the comics in the old EU to be too many to bother keeping up with. These are far easier and more relevant.
We literally only have 3 ongoing series right now, and 1 limited. Darkhorse had 4 different series on-going on at one time in it’s hayday.
#AlternateAlternateFacts
I don’t purchase issues anymore, but I do grab the trades when they hit the local library and I download a few of them here and there through Comixology. And yeah, I’m pretty lukewarm about the comics. To be fair, I thought the vast majority of the Dark Horse offerings were downright awful, but the Marvel stuff isn’t overly impressing me.
I love Star Wars. I love comics and graphic novels. But I can’t seem to get into Star Wars comics. Go figure.
They started out pretty strong but literally the entire run of the Star Wars comics takes place in the small 3 year span of between ANH and ESB. There couldn’t be that much going on. Also the comics just keep getting more ridiculous and less Star Wars for my taste.
Me gusta.
No, Rey’s grandma. Aphra’s so going to rape Luke! That’s what this crossover is all about! Definitely:)
I don’t like the color beige.
Jeeze, Luke wore that Yellow jacket for like 3 years. It must smell awful.
I really enjoyed Vader Down so I hope this can match the quality. Pairing Luke and Aphra is an interesting move. We’ll see how it turns out.
It at least has a better concept than Vader Down did. So I’ll give it a try.